


Leather and Lace

by novamelone



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Fluff, Lesbian AU, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-09-21 11:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17042597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novamelone/pseuds/novamelone
Summary: Sharon thinks it’s quite unfair that she has to sit behind the prettiest girl in school. The worst thing is that the girl should be everything she hates. Alaska is wearing a cheerleading outfit. Alaska has on lacy knee-high socks with tiny pink bows. Alaska has a fluffy pink pen, with which she dots her I’s with little hearts. Sharon is an outcast, a punk gothic that hates everything pink and girly and mainstream. So she should hate Alaska. Instead, she can't stop thinking about kissing her.





	1. I.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This will be a few chapters, I'm not sure how many yet! I don't know anything about American High Schools except for what I've learned from cheesy movies!

Sharon thinks it’s quite unfair that she has to sit behind the prettiest girl in school. While the teacher drones on about biology in the front of the classroom, Sharon is focused on the long white-blond hair right in front of her. It’s shiny, as always, and there are two little buns on the top, and Sharon hates how cute she finds it. The worst thing is, she thinks as she watches Alaska flick her long locks over her shoulder, is that the girl should be everything she hates. Alaska is wearing a cheerleading outfit. Alaska has on lacy knee-high socks with tiny pink bows. Alaska has a fluffy pink pen, with which she dots her I’s with little hearts. Sharon is an outcast, a punk gothic that hates everything pink and girly and mainstream. So she should hate Alaska. Instead, she’s thinking about how that blond hair would feel between her fingers, and if Alaska would like it if she pulled on it slightly. Alaska is not paying attention to the teacher either, instead giggling with her friends next to her. Like every proper popular princess, she is always flanked by two sidekicks. Courtney, sweet and smart, on her left, and Willam, loud and funny, on her right. The sidekicks are also wearing their cheerleading outfits, and with all the blond, pink and glitter between the three of them it’s almost too much of a cliché.

Lost in her thoughts, Sharon doesn’t notice that the bell has rung until Alaska stands up to put her books in her bag. She turns around, and her big, doe-like brown eyes lock with Sharon’s icy blues. Alaska smiles brightly at her, and Sharon involuntarily feels one of the corners of her mouth lift. Before she can react properly, Alaska is whisked away by Courtney and Willam. It would probably make sense for Alaska to be mean to Sharon, seeing as she is on the top of the high school food chain and Sharon has a pentagram etched into her schoolbook. Hell, it would probably make life easier for Sharon if Alaska would be mean to her. But alas, besides being pretty and popular and funny, Alaska is also really nice. Sharon thinks it’s quite unfair that someone can be that perfect.

After her last class of the day, Sharon runs into her best, and only, friend. Katya is as much of an outsider as Sharon, with her strange, eclectic clothing style that seems to include roadkill, and her nonsensical, rambling stories. Plus, she drank her own blood in junior high and she has never been able to live that down. Katya feels like a kindred spirit, in more ways than one. Katya throws her arm around Sharon’s shoulder and kisses her cheek, and immediately two girls throw them dirty looks. For some reason, everyone in school is convinced that Sharon and Katya are in a lesbian relationship.

“How was your day, you big fat dyke?” Katya yells excitedly in her ear, and well. Katya is probably not really helping in dispelling the rumors.

Sharon rolls her eyes and pushes Katya away, “Fine. Let’s go smoke.”

Katya bobs her head and starts dancing, moving ahead to the bleachers. Sharon and Katya like to spend their afternoons smoking weed at the bleachers. They both like the emptiness of an empty football field while pondering on the emptiness of life. However, the last couple of months, their after school smoking sessions just _happen_ to coincide with cheerleading practice. If Katya has noticed this development, she hasn’t mentioned it. They walk into the stadium, Katya doing hops from bench to bench, until they find their place on the bleachers. Normally they sit far enough from the field that it doesn’t look like they’re watching them practice, but close enough that Sharon can watch from the corner of her eye. However, Sharon is feeling bold today for some reason, and they sit closer to the field then they ever have before. The cheerleaders are warming up, and Sharon lights up her blunt and sits back, throwing her boots up on the bench in front of her. Katya keeps talking about some weird movie she saw last night, and Sharon hands her the blunt to shut her up. Katya makes a face at the black lipstick now covering it, but she takes a puff anyway. On the field, the girls have started their routine, and Sharon can feel a smile creeping up on her face. Although Alaska may seem perfect, she does have a flaw. For a cheerleader, she’s a horrendous dancer. She’s bow-legged, has no rhythm, and seems to fall over whenever they have to do complicated stunts. Her attempt at dancing with those long skinny legs make her seem a bit like Bambi on ice, and although Sharon can’t see her eyes from the bleachers, she’s sure that they add to the illusion. Sharon wonders if it’s really a flaw if it looks so damn adorable.

“Oh by the way bitch, I signed us up for the talent show on Friday,” Katya grins at her. Sharon whips her head around and gives Katya a death glare.

“No. No! We’re not doing that!”

“Too late! We can’t back out now, they already scheduled us in!”

“Why would you do this? You hate this school as much as me!” Sharon exclaims. Sharon loves her band, and loves performing with her band, but at a school event, no thank you.

Katya shrugs, “Raja asked me to do it.” Raja and Raven, the two cool rocker chicks that may or not be in a relationship, make up rest of the band. They attended the same high school as Sharon and Katya, but graduated a few years ago.

“Well why didn’t she asks me?” complains Sharon.

“Because she knows you would say no,” Katya reasons and well, Sharon can’t argue with that.

“You only have to drum though,” Sharon grumbles, “I actually have to sing in front of all these motherfuckers.” She’s not looking forward to embarrassing herself in front of the entire school. On the other hand, she thinks, looking at Alaska, it would maybe be sort of cool to show everyone how good of a singer she is.    

Katya starts telling another story and Sharon tries to keep up this time, but ends up only half paying attention. At the end of the practice, the cheerleaders stay around chatting. Alaska is talking animatedly to a girl in regular clothes that was not there at the beginning of the practice, and Sharon realizes she doesn’t recognizes her. The girl has blond hair, like all the fucking cheerleaders seem to have, and is smiling timidly as Courtney and Willam join the conversation. Sharon can see her layers of pink make-up all the way from the stands.

“Do you know who that is?” Sharon asks Katya, who is laying on her back, staring at the clouds. Katya sits up, and smiles when she sees Sharon gesturing at the girl.

“Oh! Yes, that’s Trixie. She’s new. She’s in my woodworking class.”

“ _She_ knows how to woodwork?” Sharon asks incredulously.

“Well, not really,” Katya giggles, “she’s really bad at it, actually. She signed up for the class on accident, so I’ve been helping her out.” Sharon takes a look at her friend. Katya is blushing slightly, shrugging her shoulders and looking down.

“Alright then,” Sharon drawls, raising an eyebrow suggestively at her friend. They have never really talked about it, about their sexualities. But, as Sharon noted, they are kindred spirits. Although both of them are not ready to come out, she knows Katya likes girls. And she know Katya knows Sharon likes girls. Katya rolls her eyes at her, and her blush deepens.

Sharon focuses her attention on the field to catch a last glimpse of Alaska. She looks quite upset, speaking to the coach with wild arm movements that look as uncoordinated as her dance moves. Sharon guesses that the conversation is about Alaska’s performance today which was, admittingly, even worse than usual. As they leave the field, Sharon looks at her almost finished blunt and puts it out. There’s not really a reason to be sitting on these uncomfortable benches without a nice view.

“I’m cold,” she says, hugging her leather jacket closer to her chest, “Let’s go home,”

“Alright then,” Katya imitates her drawl, grinning at her suggestively, no doubt picking up on why Sharon is not interested in staying anymore. 

~

Alaska is being a brat and she knows it. She is still in her cheerleading outfit, refusing to change or put on deodorant or move from where she’s sitting on Willam’s pants.

“I’m such a bad fucking cheerleader that my own coach hates me. I thought cheerleaders only had to be pretty? I’m pretty,” she whines, crossing her arms. She’s not a great dancer on a regular day, but today was especially bad. What’s annoying her the most is that they had an _audience_ for this practice, and she fucked up. She knows that the goths hanging out on the bleachers don’t really pay attention to the cheerleading going on, but still. They normally don’t sit that close to the field, and it threw her off. Alaska tries very hard to ignore that the feeling of those blue eyes watching her may have had an effect on her performance. 

“Don’t be such a baby,” Willam rolls her eyes at her, “And get your fat ass off my fucking pants!” She starts pulling the jeans from underneath Alaska, who keeps put until eventually the jeans get freed and Alaska falls on the ground.

“You’re not that bad, Lasky, you just need some more practice,” Courtney consoles her, patting her head and helping her up.

“Well, even if that could somehow fix your lack of talent, you don’t have time for that,” Willam tells her, “because we have to practice for the talent show.” This cheers Alaska up considerably, and she starts doing the little dance moves they want to incorporate into their song. She starts singing into her hairbrush when she notices the new girl, Trixie, staring at her.

“Trixie!” she says excitedly, “Are you coming to the show on Friday?”

“Sure,” Trixie smiles at her, “what are you guys doing? Singing? Dancing?”

“Well obviously not dancing,” Willam says, side-eying Alaska, who pretends to be offended. “We’re performing a song we’ve written.”

“Cool! I actually write songs as well. And sing, and…” Trixie cuts herself off, almost seeming embarrassed about sharing her talents.

“That’s perfect!” Courtney exclaims, “We still need someone to help us with the song writing!”

“Yes!” Alaska joins in enthusiastically, “Do you want to help up after school tomorrow?”

“Yeah, of course, that’d be great,” Trixie grins at them. Alaska smiles back, and hums while she starts changing out of her cheer outfit. She may be a horrible dancer, but at least she made the new girl feel welcome.

Friday evening comes quicker than Alaska had expected, and she finds herself nervously playing with her hair in the canteen, staring at the empty make-shift podium in front of her. She’s sitting at a table with Courtney, Willam, Trixie, and some other cheerleaders. She is happy with the song they’re going to sing, and she practiced the minimal choreography so much she can do it in her sleep. As always, Alaska will be standing in the middle during their number. She likes to think it’s because she’s the Beyoncé of the group, but Courtney says it’s just because she’s the tallest, and Willam says it’s because Courtney is too pretty to be standing directly next to.

The lights dim, and Alaska is surprised to see Katya, Sharon, and two other girls she vaguely recognizes take the stage. Katya takes a seat behind the drums, while Sharon grabs the microphone at the front of the stage. Alaska takes in her black ripped jeans, plateau boots, sleeveless denim jacket and low cut top, and feels her breath hitch.

“Hi everyone,” she says in a raspy voice. Alaska realizes she hasn’t really heard Sharon’s voice much, but it still sounds comfortably familiar. “We’re the Needles, and this is our song Dead Dandelion,” Sharon’s purple lips curl into a half-smile, the same one Alaska sometimes gets back after she beams at Sharon like an idiot.

“Hey, aren’t those the dykes that graduated two years ago?” Willam asks the group, pointing at the two girls that have guitars strapped on. Alaska feels a cold shiver going up her spine at the word ‘dykes’, but immediately pushes the feeling away.

“They look familiar,” she shrugs, just as Katya starts drumming. As soon as Sharon starts singing, Alaska is mesmerized. She is unable to look away from those icy-blue eyes, looking even more vibrant with her exaggerated smoky eye. About half way through the song, Sharon’s eyes lock on her, and Alaska’s breath is taken away completely. It feels like hours, although it’s probably closer to seconds, before Sharon looks away.

At the end of the song, the room bursts into enthusiastic applause, Alaska hurting her hands with how hard she’s clapping. Sharon looks a bit surprised at the reception. Her face breaks into a full-on smile this time, exposing the adorable gap between her teeth that Alaska has somehow missed before.

“Thank you!” Sharon yells into the microphone, before walking off with the rest of the band. Alaska feels hot and uncomfortable all over, and she needs to clear her head, and get rid of this blush on her cheeks.

“I’m going to get a drink,” she tells Courtney and Willam, and she hops off her seat. She hurries to the drinks table with her head down to hide her face. That ends up not being a smart move, as she bumps into someone before reaching the table.

“Sorry!” she says, looking up to see Sharon staring back at her. “Oh!” she exclaims, “Hi! You were great, really, you guys were amazing,” the words leave Alaska’s mouth before she can stop them. 

“Thanks,” Sharon says, smiling her half-smile and looking a bit taken aback. Alaska realizes she probably came off way too eager, and starts playing with her hear nervously.

“So, eh, are you staying for the rest of the show?” she enquires, doing her best to not sound too invested in the answer.

Sharon shrugs, “I don’t think so.”

“Well, if you do stay, I’m up next after the break, so…” Alaska says, and she immediately wants to hit herself in the head.

“Yeah?” Sharon grins at her, “Maybe I’ll stick around then,”

Before Alaska can fully process her answer, one of the girls from Sharon’s band starts yelling her name.

“Jesus, stop yelling!” Sharon yells back. “What is it?!” Alaska takes the moment to hurry back to her table and slip into her seat.

“Weren’t you getting a drink?” Courtney asks.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Alaska mumbles, staring at her empty hands.

“You’re such a dumb fucking bitch,” Willam tells her affectionately.

“Girls!” Ginger, the organizer of the talent show, walks up to their table, looking stressed and disheveled. “Valentina wants to be the first act after the break, and you knows how she gets. Could you please switch with her and be second?” Alaska finds herself nodding her agreement, even though she would like nothing more than to refuse to switch. She doesn’t know how to explain to the others that she doesn’t want to switch because she already told Sharon they will be up next. She doesn’t even know how to explain to herself why she wants Sharon to watch her performance so bad.

After Valentina’s number, Alaska takes her place at center stage, and finds her eyes skimming over the crowd. When she can’t find the face she’s looking for, she does her best not to feel utterly disappointed.


	2. II.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls dissect a frog, and there's a party, some alcohol, and some feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a Christmas present!
> 
> Trigger warning: some homophobia

Sharon spends the weekend regretting not waiting for Alaska’s performance on Friday. She had been able to convince the rest of her band to stay for the first act after the break, telling them that there could be a chance that there were some other cool bands playing. But, unlike Alaska promised, the next act was Valentina. Raja and Raven had made fun of the way she smiled for a minute. Then they had gotten bored and had wanted to leave to go to an actual fun party. Sharon could not really find a reason why they should stick around for just one more number, so she had given in.

Sharon arrives early to Biology on Monday. She feels anxiety building in her stomach as more students trickle in and immediately feels stupid. Just because Alaska and her had a sort-of-conversation doesn’t mean anything is going to be different. Alaska will walk in with her friends. Sharon will stare at Alaska for an hour. If Sharon forgets to look away before Alaska catches her, Alaska will smile at her like the friendly person she is. But, _but,_ a little voice in her head says, didn’t it seem on Friday like she wanted Sharon to stay? To watch her perform?

Alaska walks in with Courtney and Willam. She’s wearing her cheerleading outfit as always, and her hair is parted in two long braids. It looks adorable. Sharon quickly averts her gaze to the book in front of her, not wanting Alaska to catch her staring again.

The rest of the week passes in the same fashion. Sharon counts exactly three times that Alaska smiles at her in class, and one time when Alaska’s pen falls and rolls towards Sharon. Sharon picks it up, hands it to her, and Alaska mouths ‘thank you’. Sharon wonders how pathetic it is that that is the highlight of her week.

On Friday, their biology teacher looks happier than normal, which never means anything good.

“Today, we will be dissecting frogs,” he announces, a smile playing on his lips. Sharon doesn’t really mind that sort of stuff, but she hears several disgusted groans around the classroom, Alaska responsible for one of them. “Alright, everyone pair up, and I’ll be handing out the frogs!”

Normally when they have to work in pairs, Sharon just ends up working alone. She likes it better that way, and it’s not like anyone’s jumping up and down to be biology partners with her anyway.

“Hieee,” a soft, drawn-out voice next to her says. “Willam and Court paired up so… Do you wanna work together?” Sharon looks up in surprise to see Alaska standing at her table, flipping her long ponytail over her shoulder and shooting Sharon a smile.

“Sure,” Sharon says, too dumbfounded to say anything else.

“Great!” Alaska beams at her, pulling out the chair next to Sharon and sitting down.

“Here they are!” the teacher announces, holding a tray with dead frogs. “Everybody gets one!”

“He’s enjoying this way too much,” Alaska mumbles, making Sharon chuckle.

“Yeah, he’s a sardonic fuck,” she says, “I think sex-ed was his favorite class, just to see us all uncomfortable,”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Alaska groans, hiding her face in her hands. In that particular class, Alaska had been tasked with putting a condom on a fake penis in front of the class, resulting in some catcalling and a very red-faced Alaska. Sharon remembers finding the whole situation very endearing, although it did make her want to beat up the guys that were catcalling.

“And now I’m blushing again,” Alaska says with a slight whine in her voice. Before Sharon can accidentally let it slip how cute Alaska is when she blushes, the teacher slaps a dead frog on their table. Alaska jumps back a little.

“Thanks,” she deadpans.

“Have fun!” He says cheerfully. Sharon starts working on dissecting the frog, figuring there’s not much sense in delaying the inevitable.

“Do you want to hold…” she starts, looking up at Alaska, who looks back at her with a mix of disgust and fear in her eyes. “Eh. Maybe you can make sketches of it?” She says instead, and Alaska shoots her a grateful smile.

They work together in a comfortable silence, only talking when they have to identify a body part, or when Alaska wants a better angle for her sketch. After a while, Sharon pulls at a frog organ a little bit too enthusiastically, and it flies over the table, landing right in front of Alaska. Alaska immediately scoots her chair back and looks at Sharon expectantly.

“Do you want me to clean it for you, princess?” Sharon says sarcastically, rolling her eyes, but removes the frog part anyway. Alaska smiles at her, and Sharon feels her icy heart melt a little bit when she sees there is a blush on her cheeks again.

At the end of the class, Sharon takes a look at the sketches Alaska made.

“Wow, these are really good!” she says, impressed by the artistic way Alaska has made the frog intestines almost… beautiful.

“Thank you!” Alaska beams at her, right as the bell rings. Sharon starts packing up her stuff, surprised when Alaska lingers a bit after standing up.

“Hey, eh, Sharon, I’m having a party tonight, if you want… If you don’t have anything else to do.”

With the combination of Alaska saying her name, Alaska inviting her to a party _at her house_ , and Alaska shuffling her feet and actually looking nervous, Sharon has to do her best not to let her mouth drop wide open.

Instead, she smiles slightly and says “Yeah, sounds cool, I’ll come,” doing her absolute best to sound casual.

“Oh, okay!” Alaska says, sounding surprised that Sharon has accepted her invitation. “Eh. It starts at nine. You can bring your friend if you want.”

She writes her address on a pink post-it note and hands it to Sharon, smiling at her before walking towards Willam and Courtney. Sharon just stares at the pink note in her hand, Alaska’s address written carefully on it, hearts dotted on the I’s.

Thankfully, it doesn’t take much to convince Katya to come along with her. They drive in Katya’s crappy car to the fancy part of town and arrive in front of an enormous villa at ten.

“Holy shit,” Katya says breathlessly, mouth agape, “This is where she lives? Maybe you have the right idea Shar, we really should stalk her into becoming our friend.”

“Shut up,” Sharon mumbles, feeling nerves in the pit of her stomach. “Well, let’s go in.”

“Are you a hundred percent she actually invited you? You didn’t just overhear her inviting someone else?” Katya asks as they step out of the car. Sharon hits her and they walk into the house.

“Hieee!” Alaska comes walking towards them enthusiastically, “You guys made it!”

She’s wearing a lacy white dress and pink heels, and her hair is long and flowy, her two signature buns on top bigger than usual. Sharon feels a bit breathless. Alaska gives them both a hug, and she smells like a mix of sweet, fruity perfume and alcohol. Sharon tries to share a look with Katya, but her friend is already preoccupied with something going on elsewhere in the room.

“I’ll see you later okay,” Katya pats her arm and disappears into the crowd. Sharon looks back at Alaska, who is still smiling at her.

“You want a drink?” she asks, and Sharon nods. Alaska grabs her wrist and leads her to the kitchen. As Alaska rummages around in the fridge, Sharon looks around. The kitchen is filled with people from school, and they are looking at her with looks of curiosity at best, and disgust at worst. Sharon suddenly feels like coming to a party full of fucking jocks and cheerleaders was a mistake.

“Beer okay?” Alaska asks her, holding up a cheap beer and _still_ smiling at her.

“It’s fine,” Sharon says, a bit coldly, and she immediately regrets it when Alaska’s smile falters. Just as Sharon is about to compliment her house, desperate to say something nice, a redhead walks by, and Alaska grabs her by the arm.

“Sharon, this is Jinkx! She likes weed, too!” Alaska beams.

“Hi, I’m Jinkx, I like weed.” Jinkx says drily, giving a slight wave, and Sharon likes her immediately. With her long flowy black dress, black nails and black hat, she reminds Sharon a bit of a witch. She is instantly curious how Alaska and Jinkx know each other, and if they’re actually friends.

“I’m Sharon,” she grins, “I like weed also.”

“See, I knew you’d get along!” Alaska claps her hands.

“Alaska!” An arm, seemingly out of nowhere, wraps around Alaska’s shoulder. “Let’s play beer pong! You and me against Willam and Kyle!”

The jock, whose name Sharon thinks is Jason, starts pulling Alaska away, not even paying attention to Sharon and Jinkx.

“See you guys later!” Alaska yells over his shoulder. Sharon does her very, very best not to feel jealous of an idiot meathead, and turns to Jinkx instead.

“So, fancy getting high, then?”

They end up sitting on a couch a little bit hidden from the rest of the party, passing a joint between them.

“You don’t really look like one of Alaska’s usual friends,” Sharon says, unable to help herself.

“Neither do you,” Jinkx shoots back, grinning at her.

Sharon exhales smoke slowly through her nose. “Well, we’re not friends, actually,”

“She likes you though,”

Sharon turns her head to study Jinkx’s face. “What makes you say that?”

Jinkx shrugs, “She got you a drink herself, she introduced us so you wouldn’t be alone at her party.”

“I think that’s all just because she’s thoughtful and sweet.”

“Alright,” Jinkx says, smiling at her knowingly, and Sharon feels like hiding behind the couch they’re sitting on. “Alaska and I are friends because we do community theatre together.”

“Alaska does theatre?” Sharon asks, intrigued. She hadn’t necessarily pegged Alaska as a theatre nerd, but with her dramatics, it makes a lot of sense.

“Yep. We’ve been doing plays together since we were twelve.” Jinkx starts telling stories of her and Alaska doing plays, and Sharon feels enthralled by every word, wanting to learn everything about this new side of Alaska.

“You should see the temper tantrums she throws when she doesn’t get the lead role. I’m sure you would stop liking her if you saw that,” Jinkx says.

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Sharon says quietly, and internally she blames the weed for being so vulnerable with a complete stranger.

Jinkx turns to look at her and smiles softly. “No, I don’t think so either.”

~

Alaska is drunk. Drunk and annoyed. She hasn’t seen Sharon since she arrived, and wasn’t that the whole _point_ of inviting her to the party? To see her, and talk to her, and get to know her? She knows getting to know Sharon is very important to her, although she refuses to think about why it is so important. She sighs impatiently and looks around the living room again. Katya is sitting on one of the couches, talking to Trixie, leaning in close. But no Sharon. Maybe she’s waiting for the bathroom! Happy with a new place to look, Alaska walks into the hallway leading to the bathroom. Unfortunately, it’s empty, and when she stomps her foot, she trips and falls down.

“Owwww,” she whines, until she feels two strong arms lift her up.

“I’ve got you, Lasky,” she feels a hot breath in her ear, and she rolls her head around to see Jason. “Do you wanna go to the jacuzzi outside?”

“Nooooo,” she says. She doesn’t want to go to the stupid jacuzzi with stupid Jason. She wants to find Sharon.

“Come on Alaska, it’ll be fun!” Jason insists and Alaska shakes her head as hard as she can, feeling herself getting dizzy.

“You and me, having fun in the jacuzzi…” he tries again, still holding her in his arms.

“I think she’s quite clearly saying no,” a loud, icy voice says, and Alaska turns to see Sharon.

“Sharon!” she exclaims, getting out of Jason’s arms and stumbling towards her.  

“Seriously?” Jason says, annoyed, “What, are you a dyke like her?”

Even in her drunken state, Alaska feels herself completely freeze up, dread unfurling in her stomach. She looks towards Jason, but he’s already walking back to the party. She turns towards Sharon instead, who’s looking at her with something like pity in her eyes, and to her horror, Alaska feels tears starting to form.

“I- I’m-” she stutters, and she begins to sob. Sharon is there immediately, hugging her, soothing her. Her hands rub Alaska’s back, and she whispers that everything is going to be okay, and for a second Alaska believes her. She waits until she feels somewhat composed before sitting down on the floor, Sharon sitting down next to her.

“How do you… how do you deal with that stuff?” she asks Sharon.

“Well, it’s easier when…” Sharon pauses for a moment, and Alaska suddenly has the horrendous thought that Sharon could finish that sentence with ‘when it’s not true’. “… when you don’t give a fuck what they think about you,” she finishes, and Alaska releases a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“But how? How do you not care?” she asks, and she feels the desperation in her voice.

“Well, they’re just a bunch of idiots. Seriously, what kind of backwards imbecile is homophobic anymore. There’s nothing wrong with being gay.” At that last part, Sharon smiles at her carefully.

“You think so?” Alaska asks, and she hates how tiny her voice sounds.

Sharon puts her hand on Alaska’s. “I know so.”

Alaska’s smile is wobbly, and through her drunken haze, a voice in her head is screaming that she sort of came out to Sharon, as well as to herself.

“I’m going to fix myself up in the bathroom,” she says resolutely, standing up and trying to wipe away her mascara. Sharon stands up too.

“Oh, okay, do you- Are you okay?”

Alaska nods, “I’ll be fine, see you in a bit.”

She spends about twenty minutes in the bathroom. Some of it is spent removing and re-applying her make-up, and some of it is spent staring at herself in the mirror, trying not to scream.

She returns to the party, which is a lot less crowded now, and although she still feels unsettled she can at least smile at the people she passes. She sees Katya, Trixie, Willam, and Courtney all sitting on a couch together. Alaska has to blink a few times to take in that strange combination of people, but Willam and Courtney seem to be hanging on to every word Katya is saying. Alaska walks towards them and flops on the couch next to Courtney, laying her head on Courtney’s shoulder.

“You okay Lasky?” Courtney asks her softly, petting her head.

Alaska nods, “Just drunk.”

“So what else have you tried? Acid?” Willam asks Katya excitedly.    

“Oh yeah, of course, that one is so much fun,” Katya grins. Alaska zones out after that, wondering whether Jason really meant what he said, whether Jason is going to tell anyone, whether Sharon… Did Sharon come out to her, too? She did say there was nothing wrong with being gay, but maybe she was just comforting her. But… The way Sharon had looked at her when she said it… The way she had grabbed her hand…

“Yo, Shar-bear,” Katya yells, and Alaska whips her head around to see Sharon and Jinkx standing behind the couch, and she immediately looks down like a coward. “Are you ready to go soon?”

“Don’t fucking call me that.  And sure, fine,” Sharon replies, and Alaska wishes she knew whether Sharon was looking at her.

“Hey Trixie, I can give you a ride if you want,” Katya says casually, her arm slung around the cushion behind Trixie.

“Yeah, that’d be great!” Trixie beams back at her, and Alaska feels glad that Trixie seems to be making friends easily.  

They stand up, and Alaska stands up with them. “I’ll walk you to the door,” she says, stumbling a bit as she tries to lead the way. At the door, she hugs Trixie first, then Katya, and finally looks at Sharon, feeling silly about being nervous. Sharon smiles at her, looking as cool and calm as ever, wearing her leather skirt and leather jacket and looking fucking perfect. Alaska suddenly throws her arms around her and hugs her tight. She buries her face in Sharon’s raven black hair and breathes in her smoky, woody scent.

“Goodnight, princess,” Sharon murmurs in her ear, and Alaska feels a tingling going through her entire body.

“Oh wait, Sharon,” Jinkx says, “Can I give you my number?”

All of a sudden, Alaska feels panic again. She wanted Sharon and Jinkx to be friends, but what if they became _more_ than friends? She watches Jinkx and Sharon exchange numbers and thinks about how they have way more in common, how Jinkx is probably more Sharon’s type, how they probably fell in love while Alaska was playing fucking beer pong.

Sharon, Katya, and Trixie leave, and Jinkx throws her arm around Alaska’s shoulder. “Let’s kick all these people out so you can get to bed, hmm?” she says.

Jinkx is sleeping over, but all of a sudden Alaska wants nothing more but for her to go home. She helps Jinkx get everyone out, hugging Willam and Courtney so tightly they can’t breathe, and she does her evening routine in silence.

Only when they’re laying on their backs next to each other in bed, the lights already off, she asks, “So, you and Sharon really got along huh?”

Jinkx lets out a huff, and Alaska feels her turning on her side to face her. “Yeah. We mostly talked about you, though.”

At that, Alaska rolls on her side too. “Really? Like what?”

“Like how you’re a brat. And how you whine a lot,” Jinkx smiles at her.

“Ha-ha, very funny,” Alaska says.

“And that you’re great on stage. Sharon seemed very interested in that, we should invite her for a rehearsal.”

“Yeah,” Alaska says, smiling and slowly closing her eyes, exhaustion from tonight’s emotional whiplash taking over. “We should do that.”

“Sleep tight Lasky, have sweet dreams about Sharon,” Jinkx says in a sing-song voice. Alaska smiles again, and she’s too drunk and too tired to deny anything.


	3. III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two groups reluctantly come together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since the last update, I'm sorry for that!  
> Only a Sharon POV this this time! We'll start the next chapter with an Alaska POV.  
> Thanks for all the comments and kudos <3

III.

Sharon feels nervous again on Monday, and she wonders if this is going to be a regular thing now. Alaska is early, like her, and she walks in on her own. She is not wearing her cheerleading outfit for once, instead wearing a black skater skirt on grey tights, with a woolen pink sweater that clashes horribly with her bright red nails. Her hair is in a messy bun on top of her head, and it looks a bit like she just rolled out of bed. Sharon forcibly moves her thoughts away from Alaska in bed, instead smiling at her and waving slightly. To her surprise, Alaska foregoes her usual seat and sits down right next to Sharon.

“Hi! I was thinking, since we have to pair up often anyways, it’s easier to just sit next to each other.” Alaska says, smiling brightly. Sharon is pretty sure they haven’t had to pair up except for the frog debacle, but she finds herself nodding anyway.

“How was the clean-up on Saturday?” Sharon asks once Alaska gets settled.

“Oh, I just hired a cleaning company. If anything is less than pristine when Daddy gets home he’ll go berserk.” Alaska rolls her eyes, and Sharon tries not to smile at the fact that Alaska is such a fucking cliché.

“So when is he coming back?”

“Hmm, not for a month or so… I think he’s in China right now.”

“Wait, really?” Sharon frowns, “You’re on your own for more than a month?” The idea of Alaska all alone in that giant mansion makes Sharon feel instantly sad. Sharon still remembers when she heard the news that Alaska’s mom had died, six years ago. She was 11 at the time, and of course everyone in school knew about it instantly. Alaska didn’t go to school for weeks, and when she came back she talked to no-one except Willam and Courtney. Sharon thinks the memory of those empty, haunted brown eyes will stay with her forever. It was the first time she had felt empathy for Alaska, the first time she saw her as a real person instead of as a popular barbie doll she despised.  

“It’s fine,” Alaska shrugs it off, bringing Sharon back to the present, “How was the drive back? Did you guys get home okay?”

Sharon thinks about the drive back, where she had been relegated to the backseat, having to listen to Katya flirt with Trixie the whole ride. She probably would have been more upset if she hadn’t gotten that hug from Alaska before she left.

“Yeah, Trixie and Katya are becoming very _friendly_ with each other,” Sharon hints. She doesn’t want to out anybody, but she also wants Alaska to know that she’s not alone.

Alaska, however, is completely oblivious. “That’s so nice! It’s so hard being new at school.”

Willam and Courtney walk in, and they pause for a second when they see Alaska sitting next to Sharon. They share a look, shrug their shoulders, and take the two seats next to Alaska. Willam looks over at Sharon suspiciously, her eyes squinted.

“So why did you crash the party Friday?” Willam asks, a hostile undertone in her voice. “I never see you at parties.”

Sharon is about to bite back when Alaska quickly says, “I invited her.”

“I think it’s nice that you and Katya came!” Courtney chimes in, shooting Willam a look. “You guys are really cool.”

Courtney looks at Sharon earnestly, and Sharon is at a loss for words.

“Thanks, Courtney,” she says, a genuine smile forming on her lips.

Willam looks from Courtney to Sharon, and finally at Alaska, nodding to herself.

“Yo Lasky, can I copy your homework real quick?” Willam then asks, already grabbing Alaska’s homework. Courtney rolls her eyes fondly and shares a look with Sharon, as if they’ve all been friends for years.

 

On Tuesday, Sharon walks into the canteen looking for Katya and sees her sitting with Trixie, Willam, Courtney, and Alaska. Feeling like she stepped into an alternate dimension, she makes her way to the group. Alaska immediately makes room between her and Katya, and everyone smiles at her as she sits down. Sharon supposes this is her life now. Eating lunch with blond cheerleaders who use glitter as eyeshadow.

“Sharon, we were just discussing that we really want to go to one of your parties,” Courtney tells her. Apparently, Katya’s crazy stories actually made her interesting to Willam and Courtney, and now they see her as a gateway to an interesting life filled with drugs and wild parties.

“Uh, I don’t throw parties,” Sharon says.

“No, ones you go to,” Courtney clarifies, “like actual _college_ parties.”

“Yeah, don’t those dykes you guys hang out with throw crazy parties?” Willam chimes in. Sharon feels Alaska completely freeze up next to her, jaw locked and looking down, and she wonders how her supposed best friends are so fucking oblivious. Sharon is ready to go in on Willam, but surprisingly, Courtney speaks first.

“I don’t think you should use that word, Willam,” she says, and Sharon, Alaska, Katya, and Trixie all turn to Courtney, their mouths wide agape. Sharon wonders if Courtney realizes she is saying that in front of two, probably three, possibly four, lesbians.

“What, why?” Willam asks, “Is this because we made out on Friday?”

“You guys made out on Friday?!” Alaska screams.    

“No not because of that,” Courtney says, her cheeks turning red. “But. It’s a slur. People use it to bully lesbians. So we shouldn’t say it. Right guys?”

Courtney glances around the table, looking for support, and everyone nods along with her.

“Yeah, great point Court,” Trixie says, smiling at her friend.

“Alright _fine_!” Willam gives in, throwing her hands in the air. “But when are we going to a college party?”

“Well, not this week,” Alaska says, “The cheer rally is on Friday! You guys are coming, right?” She looks expectantly at Sharon and Katya, and Sharon can’t help but make a face. Cheer rallies are everything she hates about this school. Those jocks, those cheerleaders, with the exception of the ones at the table she’s sitting at, have always been the ones picking on her, the ones that made her feel like a freak. She doesn’t want to cheer for those fuckers, she doesn’t want to join in on that social hierarchal bullshit.

“No way,” she says resolutely.

“But it’s going to be my first time cheering with the team!” Trixie says, and Katya smiles at her before turning to Sharon.

“We could go?” she says, and Sharon rolls her eyes. Katya is way too far gone. She then makes the mistake of looking at Alaska, who is watching her with dark brown puppy-dog eyes and a slight pout. Sharon can already feel her resolve slipping.

“Maybe. We’ll see.” she settles on, but Alaska smiles at her as if she just promised to dress up in the school colors, wave the school flag and make signs spelling out Alaska’s name. And who is she kidding, if Alaska asked she probably would.

It turns out Sharon has her next class with Willam, and they walk to the classroom together. Sharon’s defenses are all the way up, but Willam seems to be completely comfortable, the look of suspicion from earlier this week gone.

Sharon studies Willam, trying to figure her out, and as a result, she bumps into some football player.

“Watch out you fucking dyke freak,” the guy hisses at her. Before Sharon can so much as roll her eyes, Willam grabs him by the arm.

“What the fuck did you just call her?” Willam demands, and Sharon’s mouth drops open.

“Yo Willam what the fuck, everyone knows that she- that she’s a-“ the guy sputters, clearly surprised at Willam’s reaction.

“And everyone knows that _you_ lost your virginity to your cousin, but I don’t go around calling you names,” Willam says, releasing the guy and walking away from him. Sharon shares a baffled look with the jock and then hurries to catch up with Willam.

“What the fuck?” she asks her, not knowing what else to say.

“What?” Willam says casually, studying her manicure, “I thought we weren’t supposed to say that word anymore.”

Sharon stands still for a moment before following Willam into their classroom, and she wonders what the hell is happening with her life right now.

 

At the end of their classes, Katya tries to convince Sharon to sit on the bleachers during cheer practice.

“No, it’s weird now that we actually know them,” Sharon says.

“It was way creepier when you were just stalking her, Sharon.” Katya tells her, pulling on her arm, “Plus, I promised Trixie we’d be there, so she can practice performing in front of an audience.”

“Ugh. Fine.” Sharon gives in. They walk to the field, and they are a bit late, the practice already in session. They take a seat pretty close to the field, and both Trixie and Alaska wave enthusiastically at them, not looking surprised that they are there. The rest of the team doesn’t look surprised either, but they don’t look as happy as Trixie and Alaska to see them. Courtney and Willam both give them a wave and a smile, but the rest of the cheerleaders look a bit like the shit under their shoe just walked in.

Katya sits facing the field, eyes on the cheerleaders, not even lighting up a blunt, and Sharon carefully follows her example. She watches them dance, watches them laugh with each other, watches Alaska flip her ponytail, watches Alaska fall when doing a cartwheel, watches Alaska’s skirt being stuck in her top after she gets up, and feels like creep.

“This is weird!” She complains to Katya.

“Seriously? Sneaking looks out of the corner of your eye was not weird, and actually being invited to watch is weird?”

“Well, now she knows that I’m watching her,” Sharon insists.

“Yes, that’s what makes it less weird,” Katya says very slowly, as if talking to a child. “Besides, see this as practice for the cheer rally.”

“I’m not going to that,” Sharon says automatically, and Katya chuckles.

“Sure you’re not.”

Sharon watches the rest of the practice trying to be more relaxed, even smiling at Alaska when she catches her eye. She looks over at Katya and sees her staring at Trixie with a dreamy look in her eyes.

“So how’s that going?” Sharon asks her, elbowing her side.

“We declared our undying love for each other and are ready to run away together.” Katya says, “Preferably to Hawaii.”

Sharon’s eyebrows shoot up, “Seriously?”

“In my mind we have.” Katya pulls her knees up and rests her chin on them. “In reality, there’s an 84% chance I’m barking up the wrong Barbie,”

“Well stay away from my Barbie,” Sharon can’t help but say. Katya immediately turns to her, a devilish grin on her face.

“Well look at you finally admitting your crush! No need to be territorial Sharon, I won’t corrupt your precious princess.”

Sharon growls at her.

When the cheerleading practice is finished, Alaska and Trixie walk up to them, taking a seat on the bleachers with their backs to the field, facing Sharon and Katya.

“Hey, thank you for coming,” Trixie smiles, mostly looking at Katya.

“Of course bitch! I promised!” Katya punches Trixie on the arm, and Sharon takes a moment to internally criticize Katya’s flirting skills.

“Did you have fun?” Alaska asks Sharon.

“Not really my cup of tea. You were good though,” Sharon answers, and promptly realizes she doesn’t really have any right to criticize Katya.

“No I wasn’t, I was horrible as always,” Alaska says, a smile still on her face. “But it’ll be much better Friday, you’ll see,” Sharon rolls her eyes at the implication, but understands that resistance is futile.

“I’m so nervous for Friday,” Trixie says, “I’m sleeping over at Alaska’s on Thursday so we can spend Friday morning practicing.”

“You’re going to take lessons from _her_?” Sharon asks incredulously, and Alaska makes a small affronted noise and pushes her lightly.

“Oh by the way, Trixie, I do have to mention that I can’t really cook. Anything.” Alaska says, sheepishly smiling at Trixie. “I mean, I can try, but I may burn the house down.”

“You can’t cook?” Sharon asks, “Then how do you eat in the month you’re home alone?”

“I don’t know… I just eat a sandwich, or I order pizza.” Alaska says, twirling her ponytail around her finger.

“Okay, I’m going to teach you how to make pasta so you don’t die from scurvy,” Sharon says, immediately worried about Alaska’s health. Sharon has been cooking for years, used to not having a meal on the table if she doesn’t. Alaska smiles at that like Sharon just gave her a great idea.

“Hey! Why don’t both of you come over on Thursday, and you can teach us then!” Alaska proposes, clapping her hands.

“I’m free!” Katya says eagerly. “If Trixie’s okay with it?”

“I’m good with any plan that involves me not having to eat Alaska’s burned food,” Trixie says, grinning at Katya.

“Sharon?” Alaska asks, looking at her expectantly, fluttering her long dark lashes. Not for the first time, Sharon feels it’s almost unfair how beautiful Alaska is.

“Sure, why not,” Sharon says, shrugging.

“Well don’t sound too fucking enthusiastic Sharon,” Katya rolls her eyes at her.

“That’s just her brand,” Alaska says, smiling at Sharon provokingly. Sharon scoffs at her but can’t help smiling back. Katya cackles and pokes her in the cheek.

“What’s so funny?” Courtney asks, her and Willam walking up the bleachers and joining them.

“Sharon’s insistence to hate everything,” Trixie says, and Sharon glares at her.

“I don’t hate _everything,_ ” Sharon defends herself. “I just hate most people.”

“No, see, that’s why I like you,” Willam says, pointing at her, “Your whole scary vibe. I dig it.”

The group stays on the bleachers for a while, chatting and laughing. Katya sparks up a joint and Courtney and Willam are very excited to try it, which results in a lot of coughing and giggling. Katya excitedly reassures Trixie about her dancing, and Sharon can’t help but notice the blush on Trixie’s cheeks. Courtney and Sharon talk about politics, and she is surprised to notice that Courtney has a lot of interesting ideas. Alaska and Katya apparently have the same weird taste in movies, and they spend ten minutes quoting lines to each other while the rest of the group looks on with confusion. Somehow, their weird little group is meshing, and for the first time ever, Sharon feels like she may have more than one friend.

When it gets later and the sun starts falling lower, Alaska shivers slightly, only her cheerleading outfit keeping her warm. Sharon hates herself, she really does, but she does the most cliché thing imaginable and she takes her leather coat off, draping it over Alaska’s shoulders wordlessly.

Alaska looks at her then, the orange glow of the setting sun painting her features, her brown eyes sparkling, her pink lips in a perfect smile. “Thank you, Sharon,” she says, and Sharon thinks that no moment can be more perfect than this.


End file.
